This invention relates generally to knives, and more particularly to a belt buckle and knife combination.
The knife is a tool long used and known by man. It is a favored tool of outdoorsmen, and is used for many tasks, both in and out-of-doors.
Numerous knives have been designed to accommodate varying needs and tastes. Long known is the straight knife which can be accommodated by a sheath worn on a belt. The straight knife has the advantage of being in an open position when withdrawn from its sheath. It has the disadvantage, however, of catching on to underbrush, tree branches and the like in the woods, and of getting in the way when its wearer is seated, for example, in a car.
Folding knives have been designed which can be carried either in a pocket or in a knife case worn on a belt. While roughly half the size of a straight knife when in its closed position, the folding knife can result in a rather large mass in a pocket, which can lead to discomfort when seated. And, while the belt worn knife case is smaller than the belt worn straight knife sheath, it is still of sufficient size to catch underbrush and branches in the woods. The folding knife has the disadvantage of being closed when it is removed from a pocket or from a knife case, thereby requiring an operation in addition to withdrawing the knife from the pocket or knife case to place the knife blade in an open and usable position.
Belt buckle knives have been developed to alleviate the foregoing problems experienced with straight blade knives and folding knives. In most of the known prior art belt buckle knives, however, the knife forms an essential part of the buckle. To use the knife, the belt must first be unfastened and the buckle/knife combination then taken apart. Such prior art devices have the distinct disadvantage that the buckle and belt must be unfastened to use the knife portion of the combination belt buckle/knife.
Other known prior art devices include a belt buckle member and a knife member. The belt buckle member fastens the belt and maintains the belt in the fastened position, even after the knife member is removed. In such known devices, however, the knife member is of the folding knife variety and must be opened by a separate operation after the knife member is removed from the belt buckle member.
Thus there is a need for a belt buckle knife in which a knife member is removed with its blade in an open, locked position, and in which the buckle portion maintains the belt in its fastened, secured position, even after the knife portion is removed. Applicant in copending application Serial No. 389,620, filed June 18, 1982, has provided one version of belt buckle knife. After continued study of the needs of sportsmen, Applicant has devised an improved belt buckle knife which is in some instances easier to manipulate than the previously described embodiments. By this application, the inventor also provides a belt buckle knife combination which can accommodate many of the commercially available folding knives currently on the market.